compiled by JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary on MARCH 14, 2014:
A two-day event on the Arts of Revolution in the Middle East was held at Duke University on 28-29 March 2014. The conference explored the relationship between revolutionary politics and aesthetics, focusing on the democratic potential of popular forms of expression. Discussions revolved mainly around the Mediterranean uprisings that have been a site and source of new forms of expression, whether channeled through new media, written on walls, performed on bodies, or chanted in streets.
In this clip above Sinan Goknur, a graduate student in the Literature Department at Duke University, addresses queer and feminist opposition in Turkey as part of the roundtable — “If I Can’t Dance, It’s Not My Revolution.” For an overview and analysis of the conference proceedings read more and watch here.
The 2014 annual conference of the Duke-UNC Middle East Studies Consortium “Arts of Revolution” was co-sponsored by the Duke Middle East Studies Center; the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations (UNC-Chapel Hill); the Duke Islamic Studies Center; and the Duke Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Department. This even was also part of the Arts of Revolution series, a “Humanities Writ Large” project funded by the Mellon Foundation.